// KOTAKU — GAMING
The Final Fantasy VII Revelation Cast Reveal Their Favorite Co-Stars In The Game To Act Against
Voice acting in video games can sometimes mean you’re acting alone in a room. Though the increasing prevalence of motion capture in games has given actors more opportunities to perform together in real, physical space, a lot of roles still have people recording lines in a booth. In the case of Final Fantasy VII Revelation, a lot of the cast has to work against recordings from other actors to try to match their intensity and keep the energy of a scene consistent. Despite not getting to work in the same room all the time, the members of the cast still have actors they love to work with and bounce off of in the series, and they all shared some stories at a New York City Comic Con panel.
Panel host Lucy James asked the cast about their favorite performances and if they felt they had scene partners who were particularly good at bringing out the best in them. They all had different answers.
Max Mittelman (Red XIII): I most often ask for a Cait Sith line to be played before I do something because I love the accent, so, I’ve probably asked 20 times for them to play your line for me in the booth, yeah.
Matt Mercer (Vincent): I was gonna say like I’ve a number of scenes with Yuffie and Vincent, two very different personalities on adventures together. It’s been so fun to listen to the energy you’re bringing to it and figure out how I could just be the wall that stops it.
Suzie Yeung (Yuffie): I love their dynamic. I remember texting Matt. I was like, “I love our scenes together. It’s gonna be amazing.”
John Eric Bentley (Barret): Well, I was about to say I couldn’t say nothing because it might spoil something. Listen, because I think my character is like a point man for everybody, I was just, like, asking for anybody who I was responding to. There’s stuff that we get to do—I think I talked to you about it when we saw each other, J. [Michael Tatum, voice of Cid], and then you already know. Matt—it’s like we get to do stuff that I don’t remember from the OG, so it’s just like, “Oh my gosh, I get to talk to you Paul [Tinto, voice of Cait Sith],” and then anything I get to do, counterbalance with the girls is outstanding, but this dude, we got some real fun stuff coming.
Britt Baron (Tifa): Yeah, I was gonna say that we all record completely alone, so I actually don’t get to hear most of your performances until the game comes out with everyone else. Once in a while if I’m lucky they will play Cloud stuff for me and sadly, I feel like Cody [Christian, voice of Cloud], you always record before me. So sometimes I luck out and actually it may be my second-to-last recording, they wanted to do a pick-up and they played what you had done. I hadn’t heard it the first time I recorded. You’re getting an Oscar-worthy performance. In a game that I feel like it can be very silly and fun and lighthearted with these big characters, I am sometimes just knocked back by how grounded and real and honest you are, your performance always is, and I felt like I was like, “Okay guys, we have to pick up more than just that one line of mine because I sound like trash compared to what he’s doing.” So I do feel like you bring out the best in all of us.
Cody Christian (Cloud): I have such a soft spot in my heart for the Cloud and Tifa interactions. I think there’s so much nuance and subtlety that Britt brings into these sorts of scenes and I’m not gonna embellish too much, but there is a specific scene that I’m thinking of in my mind. Also, I was lucky enough to, when at certain parts within the game, to hear Travis [Willingham, Sephiroth] and everything that he was doing. And I feel like Sephiroth as a character, as a presence, is in a weird way this like, lifeforce for Cloud, right? Like you, you trigger me in a way that like no one else could. You bring out emotions, though, that are very strong and just truthful, and so any time I was able to hear your voice I took the opportunity because I felt it gave me the fuel that I needed to reach those sorts of emotio